Creating a Video Culture at Your Dealership

On this week’s episode of Kain & Co., David Kain of Kain Automotive talks about how you can engage with your customers by using the power of video in your communications.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

David Kain: Hello and welcome to Kain & Company here on CBT News. My name is David Kain. I’m really excited to talk to you today about creating a video culture at your dealership. So let’s discuss it. So when you are at your dealership and you’re trying to encourage customers to interact with you, that’s really one of the primary challenges is to try to get them to engage at any level. So that can be engagement through that the shopping consideration phase, engagement after they’ve submitted the request, or even engagement after they visited the dealership or after they’ve purchased the vehicle. In all areas, it is important for you to consider the power of video in your communications. So video really goes a long, if a picture is worth a thousand words, what must be a video worth? And it is truly the case. The video really is engaging. Take for example, today you’re watching this program.

David Kain: If I was just words on a paper or an article, you’d be maybe curious if the headline was interesting. If my writing was good, you’d be maybe a little more drawn in. But even if I moved to a podcast and I spoke, you’d maybe listen for a little bit. But because I’m in a video and I’ve got movement and things are going on, it’s a little more engaging, a little more interesting. So your automotive shopper is the exact same way. So let’s talk about it from a marketing standpoint. We do know this, that Google owns YouTube. And as a result YouTube shows up very favorably in Google searches for automobiles. So that being the case, when you are in the marketing mode and you take it upon yourself to literally create a video of each vehicle that you trade for, or each vehicle that you get in off the truck new, it really serves a great purpose for you to be able to put it out there in the consuming public and let them see what you have available for retail.

David Kain: It also encourages your team to get involved, by leveraging those videos in their own social media engagement. And for followup, to be able to offer a link, so that then the customer who is considering your inventory is able to engage with it on a more personal level. So video from a marketing standpoint works extremely well. But let’s just say we’ve received the request. And you’re going to reach out to the customer. Now we do know this. Telephone is by far and away the preferred medium for someone who is interested in buying something. According to Google Auto, it’s about 55% of consumers prefer to talk by telephone. But in order to get them to the telephone, sometimes we need to lure them in with some sort of a creative approach. And that’s where a video walk around works really well. So by going out and doing a brief one minute, two minute type video and presenting the vehicle, and then offering the opportunity for the customer to engage with you by telephone, we really up the opportunity for them to be more engaged with us.

David Kain: So when you are also doing the video as a salesperson, you start to absorb product knowledge even without really trying extra hard. You just start to notice all the safety features, all the convenience features, you’re able to point out the performance features. And that carries over into the one-on-one dialogue that you would have at the sales desk, over the telephone, or even be able to type out IN an email or a text message. So video serves multiple purposes for the dealership. Additionally, when you’re able to communicate to someone about what they’re interested in, and you provide a video that is about them for them, it really takes it up to the next level to where they say, wow, somebody really went to the trouble for me. Even though we know all you did was use your smartphone and go out there and do a quick walk around presenting something you already love and want to assist them with.

David Kain: So desktop greetings are another great way just to orient them to the dealership management, that will do the effort to go out and sit in front of the camera and say to the guest, “Hey, my name is David Kain and I’m the manager here at the dealership. And I just wanted to tell you a little bit about our story, and how we’re going to be able to help you out.” That breaks down barriers. And if you can get that manager to be the owner of the dealership, it goes even a step further. So not that you’d want to create too much of a template looking video. And in fact the more natural looking, sometimes the better off it plays. I like that the CEO of YouTube said that people go to YouTube for texture instead of polish. And if you do your own searching around YouTube, you’re going to find out that some of the big YouTube personalities are actually the ones who have the grittiest and most striking videos that really are driven by texture instead of the professional finish you might see in a television show or commercial.

David Kain: So additionally, once we’re able to inspire the guests to come to the dealership, one of the strategies that we’ve seen employed really well is creating a [be back 00:05:54] video. So one of my friends talks about the fact that a lot of customers don’t remember their salesperson for more than 24 or 48 hours after they even buy a vehicle from them. Imagine how little they remember the salesperson that they didn’t buy the vehicle from. So do a be back video, reintroduce yourself, show them the vehicle or a selection of vehicles that they considered, and really win their hearts and minds by showing them that you’re putting forth the extra effort to show that you really did take their visit serious and you’d like to welcome them back into the dealership. And lastly, building on the ownership cycle.

David Kain: One of the great things that we’ve seen used by a dealership in North Carolina at the Vester Automotive Group is the manager thank you video. So Chris Vester goes to the trouble to do a video thank you. And that is a wonderful way to do a desktop type video using a tool like a Covideo. It works out really great, and it really conveys to the guests that that purchase from them to our dealership was extremely valuable. So there’s a lot of different ways when you think about from the marketing to the greeting to the engagement after the visit and engagement after the sell to make video really strong at your dealership. And a lot of managers will say to me, “I’ve tried to get my team to really utilize video.” One thing I’d take from a friend of mine here in LaGrange, Georgia, Michael Stogner, the dealer principal of LaGrange Toyota, he says if you’re going to work with our leads, and this goes back nearly 10 years, he says, we’re going to do a video.

David Kain: So if you go to the YouTube channel from LaGrange Toyota, you’re going to see over 27,000 videos that they’ve posted over the years. You don’t create that by hoping that your team is going to do the videos. You create a culture. Creating a video culture is not easy unless you have accountability at the management level. So hold your team accountable by holding your managers accountable. Create a video culture at your dealership, and just watch what it does to strengthen product knowledge, consumer engagement, and to really drive up your marketing prowess at the dealership. Give it a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. So thank you very much for joining me today. My name is David Kain. You can check out some of our videos on YouTube. And we’d be glad to talk you through how we can help you at your dealership create the right video culture. Thanks for joining us and I’ll see you next time here on Kain & Company.

David has a unique background that includes automotive retail, OEM executive leadership and digital sales training and consulting. His 20 years in retail included various positions in sales and service at Jack Kain Ford, where he remains a partner today. He also was the COO and co-founder of FordDirect.com, the Internet lead provider to Ford and Lincoln dealers. In 2003, he developed Kain Automotive. Visit his website at www.KainAutomotive.com.

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